Rameswaram (TN): As many as 19 more Sri Lankan Tamils, including 6 women and 5 children, fled their country using a boat and arrived near here early on Sunday, officials said. Following inputs that a group of Lankan Tamils late Saturday night reached Arisalmunai area off Dhanushkodi, about 19 km from here, police personnel including the marine sleuths found and took them to the Mandapam camp.
The Tamils told policemen that they travelled by boat from Sri Lanka and were dropped off Dhanushkodi. The Tamil people, including 8 men, said they could not make ends meet in their country in view of the economic crisis and the current political instability.
After the crisis unfolded in the island nation, 10 Tamils fled their homes and had come to Tamil Nadu and so far 29 people have arrived here till date.
Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis since gaining independence from the UK in 1948. People have been protesting for weeks over lengthy power cuts and shortage of gas, food and other basic goods.
Protesters have been demanding the resignation of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for mishandling the country's economy. Earlier, Six Sri Lankans, including three children, unable to get work amid skyrocketing prices in the country, arrived in Tamil Nadu's Rameswaram on a boat. A couple with their four-month-old child and another woman with her two children reached the sand dunes near Danushkodi. Of the two families, one is from Jaffna while the other is from Mannar.
The Indian Coast Guard, after being informed about them, used a hovercraft to bring the refugees to shore. They were offered food and water by officials. The officials, including the local police, also spoke with them, recording their identities and the reason for fleeing Sri Lanka. One of them, while speaking to reporters, said they decided to leave Sri Lanka for India due to the current economic situation in
their country.
The rising prices of food and essentials and their inability to get any work to sustain themselves, prompted them to become refugees in India for their children's survival.
According to police sources, the Sri Lankans have entered the country illegally and will be charged and jailed.